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Even here at SFist, we like a little French touch in our food. For instance, we don't say 'foodie in the Sunset', we write gourmet de l'ouest. Grumps might complain about the choice of 'ouest' over the much more poetically evocative 'gourmet du soleil couchant'.

Of course, the big French food temples downtown are not satisfied with a little touch, they want to make the point across loudly. Thus, Farallon serves its mussels in a beautifully heavy oval cast-iron skillet made by Staub in Turckheim, France. It has some heft, and comes piping hot. So if you wanted to put it in your pocket and leave discreetly, you would need the big pants of Jared from Subway, and have them lined with asbestos for heat protection.

Not that anyone here is advocating stealing stuff, but the alternative is buying it, and those puppies are not cheap. You can find them at Sur La Table, the Ferry building store has them, and they go for $90 a pop.

Turckheim is also the home of some excellent wine. Some of the most famous Alsatian wines, Zind-Humbrecht are made in Turckheim. And of course, Farallon carries them, from $36 for the half-bottle of Riesling 2002 to $30 for a glass of Tokay-Pinot gris 2000. Order a Riesling with your mussels, it is not a bad pairing, and you'll have a double dip of Turckheim-ness on your table, right here in San Francisco. Not so bad for a little village of 3,600.

SFist Cedric, contributing.

A sincere bienvenue to new SFist Cedric of Le Blog de San Francisco, whose culinary opinion we fetishize because he is French and living in California.